


Under the Same Sky

by Anonymous



Category: Digimon Frontier
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2005-04-10
Updated: 2005-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29274252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: High school can be a tough place. The Frontier kids deal with each of their lives attending school in Tokyo city. [Frontier AU][Unfinished & Discontinued]
Kudos: 1
Collections: Anonymous





	Under the Same Sky

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I wrote back in 2005 (!!). Just posting it here as I'd like to keep an archive of my past work. The text is kept exactly as it was when I first put it online, including the summary, A/N and disclaimer.

**Under The Same Sky**

Disclaimer: Digimon Frontier is the property of Hongo Akiyoshi and Toei Animation.

Note: High school AU fic. Obviously Tomoki is not in high school but he will show up later on. There will be many parallels with the actual series. I don't think there will be any pairings.

And, although he will probably never see this, I'd like to thank Michael for editing. (You are awesome!)

x

\- Izumi -

A gentle breeze swept through the trees, their red and gold leaves rustling with excitement. A few detached themselves from their branches and danced freely in the sky, then gently rested on the ground below. The autumn air was cool and smelled refreshingly pleasant.

Orimoto Izumi breathed the scent deeply. It helped calm her jittery nerves as she stood awkwardly at the front gate of Shiseiya High School. It was her first day there; since she had just recently moved in the area, it was only natural that she should feel slightly nervous about it. However, Izumi was not easily swayed by such feelings. Gathering up her confidence, she smoothed the edge of her grey skirt –a part of the school's mandatory uniform- and headed towards the entrance of Shiseiya.

The school itself was a building of three floors, with a small staircase leading up to the front doors. Students filled the school grounds, all in grey ensembles much like her own, save for the boys who were in pants instead of a skirt. Some were chatting merrily with their friends, others were all by themselves. Izumi walked past them with curiosity. These people would become her classmates and, she hoped silently, her friends. A few of them gave her probing glances in return. A bit embarrassed at staring for so long, Izumi quickly snapped her head in another direction, adjusted her backpack, and walked on.

As she moved, her golden hair flew around wildly in the wind, attracting the attention of many students. They had never seen such a bright hair colour before, except on the heads of celebrities and foreigners found in magazines and movies. Izumi was certainly not a celebrity; she had, however, inherited her blonde hair from her mother, who was European. In fact, she had just returned from Italy with her family recently, after living there for many years. The last time she had been in Japan she was still a young girl.

Izumi climbed the stairs in front of the school quickly, well aware that she was being watched by the other students. As she entered the building, she noted that the hallways were fairly quiet. However, as she passed by classrooms, the sound of energetic voices met her ears.

Down the hall, she spotted a figure. A boy was standing against the wall by himself, as if oblivious to the white walls around him. He was dressed in the boy's uniform, a navy grey-coloured jacket with a plain white shirt underneath, his hands dug deep in his matching slacks, and plain shoes. Strangely enough, his dark hair was tied back in a long ponytail.

Despite his uncommon looks, Izumi did not hesitate to approach him.

"Hello," she spoke, and the boy looked up at her. His deep blue eyes held a piercing gaze, but this did not discourage Izumi one bit. "Would you show me the way to the principle's office?"

The boy paused for one moment then gave her a quick nod.

"This way."

He led her down one hallway, then another, and soon Izumi found herself standing in front of a door labelled with a diligently engraved sign, 'Principal's Office'. She turned to the boy once again and gave him a warm smile of gratitude.

"Thank you very much."

The corner of the boy's mouth twitched slightly, and he swiftly turned his back to her.

"No problem," he said, walking away.

Izumi knocked on the door of the office and waited. There was a sound of shuffling feet from behind the door, and with a few more moments, it opened, revealing the kind face of a middle-aged man. The principal Kuroyanagi Atsushi, no doubt.

"Yes?"

"Uh, good morning," Izumi said. "My name is Orimoto Izumi. I've just been transferred here."

A look of realization crossed Kuroyanagi's face and almost immediately, he stepped aside and ushered Izumi into the office.

"Oh yes," he said, as his workspace revealed itself to Izumi. "I remember. I spoke to your parents the other day."

The office was a small one. There was a great wooden desk, with chairs placed on either side of it. Kuroyanagi slid smoothly into the single leather chair behind it, and motioned for Izumi to sit down across from him. Light from the window seeped through the blinds and reflected off the rim of his large, round glasses as he shuffled some of the loose sheets covering his desk.

"Orimoto Izumi, right?" he asked. When the girl in question nodded, he continued. "Do you have the papers?"

"Yes," Izumi replied immediately, then fished out a large manila envelope from her purple and black backpack and placed it on the desk.

Kuroyanagi opened the envelope and took out the contents. He examined each sheet of text carefully, every now and then asking Izumi a question or two, to double check the information. Soon, he was finished looking at all the necessary paperwork, and he stood up.

"School will be starting shortly. Let's get you to your class," he said with a smile.

Nodding, Izumi stood up as well. As the two exited the office, the principal spoke up.

"But first," he said, "Let us go to the front hall, where you can put away your shoes."

Izumi looked down and embarrassingly discovered that she had still been wearing her black outdoor shoes.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

Izumi quickly took off the shoes, and reached into her backpack to pull out a pair of plain white flat shoes. She slipped her feet into them, zipped up her bag, and picked up the discarded pair of black shoes. She remembered suddenly that Japan was different from Italy, and that in Japan, one had a special pair of shoes to wear inside school. She observed immediately the floor of the hallway, which had been cleaned so carefully that there was not a trace of dirt.

The two continued on their way on the dustless floor. Finally, they reached their destination. In a room connected to the front hall, there were many rows of low shelves, each separated into square niches. Kuroyanagi walked up and down each row and finally spotted the one he was looking for.

"Here it is!"

It was the row of lockers marked '2-1'. Kuroyanagi briefly explained that this would be the place for Izumi to store her outdoor shoes during the day. Nodding, Izumi placed the black shoes she had been carrying into an empty niche.

After another short walk, the pair halted in front of a classroom. Kuroyanagi knocked on the door, above which was a sign labelled '2-1', then entered. From out in the hall, Izumi could see him speak to the female teacher, explaining the situation. After a few seconds, Kuroyanagi motioned for her to go in.

Izumi entered the class, a smile on her face. As she stood at the front of the room, the teacher spoke.

"Everyone, we have a new student. This is Orimoto Izumi. She just transferred here from Italy."

Surprised and impressed gasps sounded the room immediately. A transfer student, from Italy! This was amazing news.

Izumi grinned, pleased at the reaction. She looked out at the faces of her new classmates, who were ogling her back. Their stares were a bit intense, but Izumi was not perturbed at all. She bowed in greeting.

"I'm Orimoto Izumi. Pleased to meet you!"

It was when she straightened up again that she noticed him. It was the boy from the hallway, who had given her directions. He was sitting quietly in the back corner of the room, a blank look upon his face. He did not appear to be interested in what was going on at all. Slowly, Izumi realized that this class was located in the exact hallway where she had seen the boy that morning.

'No wonder it looked kind of familiar,' she thought to herself.

The teacher's sharp voice cut into her thoughts.

"Your seat is the empty one, beside Maya," the teacher said, pointing.

Izumi quickly moved towards the only empty seat in the class, located beside the desk of a brown-haired girl with pigtails. She sat down, and class began.

Subject after subject, the lessons went on. During the 10-minute breaks between each course, Izumi conversed with Maya, the girl with pigtails, and her friends, who all wanted to know what Italy was like. A few of the boys in the class gave her their undivided attention as well, seeing how pretty Izumi was, with her bright hair and green eyes. However, the boy from that morning remained at his desk, silent through it all.

At one point, Maya decided she had to go to the bathroom.

"Come with me," she said to Izumi.

Izumi looked up at her. "Can't you go by yourself?"

She had not meant to sound harsh or anything, but Maya was taken back.

"I-I can."

"Forget about her, Maya-chan. I'll gladly go with you," another girl spoke up after seeing the exchange between her friend and the transfer student.

"Alright."

As the two girls left for the bathroom, Izumi could hear whispering from the other girls in the room.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Why did she say that?"

"That was rather mean, wasn't it?"

Izumi simply chose to ignore this and looked away. She did not understand what the big deal was. Maya could go to the bathroom by herself; Izumi did not have to accompany her. But she decided not to think too much of it. It was probably nothing, anyway.

When Maya and the other girl returned, the next teacher came in the door as well. It was time for class.

Soon, lunch came, and everyone brought out their lunchboxes, filled with whatever delicious food their mothers had packed them. Izumi herself had a plastic container of her mom's homemade spaghetti. Taking out a fork, she sank into the spaghetti, realizing how hungry the day had made her.

"Oh, spaghetti!" Maya exclaimed.

Izumi was sitting with Maya and her friends, their desks rearranged in a rectangle, all facing each other; a substitute lunch table. She noticed that many students had done this with their friends, or moved to sit with them. The boy with the ponytail however, sat by himself. She wondered briefly why he was alone, then turned back to Maya.

"My mom made it," Izumi said with a smile.

"Strange," one girl commented. "The rest of us have Japanese food."

Indeed, all the other girls had white rice and colourful vegetables and sushi, arranged in their lunchboxes to form decorative patterns.

"Not really," another girl replied with a tone implying that she was very knowledgeable about such things. "She's not like us. She's from Italy."

"Hmm.." the first girl replied. "I suppose you are right. They don't have chopsticks in Italy, do they?" she said, looking at the shiny fork in Izumi's fingers.

"Of course not," Izumi replied, twirling her fork in her food. She took a bite and the taste of spaghetti flooded her mouth.  
"Delicious!" she exclaimed in Italian without thinking.

The other girls at the substitute table looked at her strangely.

"What?" One of them made a face at the odd, foreign sounds that came out of Izumi's mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's Italian," Izumi quickly explained with a laugh. "I guess I've stayed in Italy for so long, sometimes I can't help but say things in Italian. It's more natural for me, I guess."

"..Oh."

The girls finished eating, with thirty minutes still remaining of the hour-long lunch period. One of them pulled out a colourful magazine, a young, dolled-up, adolescent girl on the cover, posing happily. Maya and her friends excitedly flipped through it, reading the articles on clothes and make-up and swooning over the glossy pages filled with pictures of what they called "hot guys".  
The magazine did not interest Izumi. Instead, while the other girls chatted excitedly, she looked around the room. There was that boy with the long hair, still sitting by himself, reading a book at his desk. Since she was not even part of the conversation at her table, she decided to go over to the boy.

"Hi," she said and the boy looked up from his book. "I'd just like to thank you again for this morning."

The boy nodded but did not say anything.

"I'm Orimoto Izumi," she introduced herself again. "What's your name?"

The boy paused for a second, his eyes on her, as if carefully scrutinizing her motives. Then, "Minamoto Kouji."

"Nice to meet you, Minamoto-kun."

"Kouji is fine. Nice to meet you too, Orimoto-san."

Izumi laughed. "Well, Kouji," she replied, putting extra emphasis on the boy's name, "You can call me Izumi."

The corner of Kouji's mouth twitched again, just like that morning, except this time, he allowed Izumi to see his smile. She returned it, and was about to speak again when a loud voice disrupted her thoughts.

"Hey there!" a grinning boy with wild brown hair exclaimed. "Izumi, right? I'm Kanbara Takuya, nice to meet you! I hope you'll like our class!"

He held out his hand, and Izumi took it.

"Nice to meet you. I hope I will too."

"How's Italy? You're so lucky to have been there. I've always wanted to go to Europe!"

Izumi grinned with amusement. 'How talkative!' she thought.

Lunch eventually ended and the school day went on. At the end of the day, Izumi stacked up all of her worksheets and scowled. First day here and she already had so much homework! Not to mention she had some catching up to do since she arrived in the middle of the school year. Sighing, she put them all carefully into her backpack and got up to leave. A blur of grey passed by her, and she looked up in time just to catch Kouji's figure leave the room.

'He's fast.'

Saying goodbye to Maya, she left the classroom as well. Before she had gotten very far however, a cry came from down the hall.  
"Hey transfer student!"

Izumi stopped abruptly in her tracks. Turning around, she said, "My name is Orimoto Izumi."

A boy she recognized as one from her class approached her, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "Oh, uh- O-Orimoto-san."  
Izumi smiled.

"What is it?" she asked, trying to sound friendly seeing how embarrassed he was.

"O-Oh it's nothing really." The boy turned towards a friend who had been following him down the hall. "See? This is the transfer student. She just came from Italy."

"Your hair's so bright," his friend spoke up. "Is that natural? That's so weird."

Izumi stared dumbly at him, then replied, "Of course it's natural!"

When the boys did not appear to have anything more to say, she turned brusquely and continued on her way. 'What was that about?'  
She went to the front hall, where many students were gathering, and found her niche. She quickly changed her shoes, and headed for the closest exit of the school.

A few short days passed and it was afterschool again. As Izumi pushed open the front doors of Shiseiya and walked out, she heard a voice call out to her.

"Izumi-chan!" It was Maya, closely followed by two other girls. "We're going shopping. Do you want to come with us?"

Izumi smiled and answered, "Sure! Sounds like fun!"

The four of them left the school grounds and, led by Maya, they walked down this way and that, until they reached a commercial area. The streets were busy with people; adults moving to and fro, teenagers hanging out with their friends, many of whom were still wearing their various school uniforms. Cars zoomed by the sidewalks, rushing towards their destinations.

The girls stopped in front of a store and went in. Izumi looked around. It was a cute little store, full of plush dolls and stuffed animals. There was a rack of Victorian-style dolls, their golden curls framing their delicate white faces. Izumi personally found their large round eyes a bit creepy, the way their eyes always seemed to stare into your soul. Maya and her friends however, all flocked towards the stand, making excessive displays of glee over the dolls' lacy dresses and bright red lips.

"Aren't they absolutely adorable?" Maya gushed, holding up a doll in a flowery dress.

While the other two girls agreed immediately, Izumi frowned and picked up a cute tiger plush.

"I prefer this myself," she commented.

"Oh," Maya said, sounding disappointed.

"See? I told you," one girl whispered to the other.

After a while, it was time to go home. The girls retraced their steps back towards the school, but along the way, Izumi spotted a street she recognized.

"My house is that way," she said. After exchanging their goodbyes, she added, "I had a good time today. Let's do that again sometime!"

"U-Uh, sure," one girl answered hesitantly.

As Izumi walked away, she heard Maya and her friends whispering.

"What a strange girl."

"She's not like us, that's for sure."

"Maybe we should stay away from her."

At that, Izumi felt a little hurt. She knew she was not the same as those girls, but she did not see how that mattered. What matters most is that they were friends, right? Feeling a little indignant, she broke into a run and kept it up until she reached the front door of her home. The run made her feel a bit lightheaded, but it had somehow cleared her mind. It would be alright tomorrow, it would be alright.

But tomorrow came and it was not alright. When lunchtime arrived, Izumi stepped out for a few minutes to use the bathroom. When she came back, she found that Maya and her friends had finished rearranging their desks already –except this time, hers was not included.

"Well, you weren't here so… We already moved the desks; it'd be too much work to do it again…" Maya explained awkwardly. "You understand, right?"

Izumi understood perfectly.

Angrily, she turned around and bolted out the door. She could hear Maya calling her name, trying to say that she was sorry, but Izumi did not care. She felt tears rushing to spill out of her eyes. Bursting through a side door, she found herself outside of the school building. The gentle wind welcomed her, blowing her tears into the sky.

Taking deep breaths of the cool air, she slowed down. There was a large tree in the vicinity, and Izumi sat down underneath it. Leaves of red and gold surrounded her and filled her vision. The serene setting calmed her. The wind gave her peace. But the feeling of alienation did not go away.

She stayed out there until the end of the lunch period.

x

Thank you for reading! Feedback is much appreciated!


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